For all intents and purposes, Chris Berman has been at ESPN since the network began. And while the Worldwide Leader has had no shortage of big personalities over the years, Berman is more associated with ESPN than any one person.

Given his vast legacy at ESPN, it would be tough to say any one moment that Berman is most known for. But what’s been his greatest moment at ESPN? That’s still a tough question to answer.

One of the leading candidates came 25 years ago, with Berman hosting NFL Primetime on Jan. 2, 2000, the final Sunday of the 1999-00 NFL season. Berman was recapping a pair of games that were played simultaneously. One was between the New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers while the other was between the Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers.

Berman’s recap of the games in question can best be summed up in four words: WE NEED MORE POINTS.

And as we head into the final day of this season — with playoff spots and seeding still left to be determined — there’s no better time to look back 25 years to Berman’s shining moment.

Setting the scene

Heading into the final week, the Panthers, Packers, New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys all sat at 7-8 and were vying for one final playoff spot in the NFC.

Green Bay and Carolina were both home, playing their games in the early window. In the late-afternoon window, the Cowboys were hosting the Giants. The loser of the New York/Dallas game would obviously be out of the mix. But what about the winner?

The Cowboys had the clearest path. They entered the week at 6-5 within the conference while the other three teams were all 5-6. A win would give Dallas an outright lead over New York and a 7-5 record in the conference. If the Packers and/or Panthers won their games, they’d have the same 8-8 record as the Cowboys with an inferior 6-6 conference record.

But what if New York beat Dallas? That would take the Cowboys out of the mix. New York, though, would still need help — and probably in the form of losses from both Green Bay and Carolina.

The next tiebreaker in place was point differential within the conference. Remember that.

The Packers entered the week with an even point differential, the Panthers were -18 and the Giants were -56. Realistically, New York needed both teams to lose. And as the Packers and Panthers played their games earlier in the day, the Giants would know those results by the time they took the field.

Going into the early games, both Green Bay and Carolina knew they had a chance. They’d need some help from the Giants later in the day but before that happened, they’d need to take care of their own business. And while New York was never going to overcome its point differential gap on Carolina and especially Green Bay — the Panthers had a more attainable task. Even if the Packers won, Carolina would only need to beat New Orleans by 18 points more than Green Bay beat Arizona. That’s a tall order, for sure — but doable.

So, going into their final games, the Packers and Panthers both knew that they had to win — with style.

How things unfolded

While NFL Primetime would normally show highlights of one game at a time, these two games were shown intertwined with each other.

It quickly became apparent that things were not breaking well for the Giants. The first highlight shown was a Dorsey Levens touchdown run, giving Green Bay a 14-3 lead over Arizona in the second quarter. Things were going even better for the Panthers in Carolina. The next highlight NFL Primetime showed was a touchdown pass from Steve Beuerlein to Wesley Walls, giving the Panthers a 24-0 lead. Cameras then showed New Orleans coach Mike Ditka. While Ditka was visibly frustrated, Berman noted that he “Knows the deal — but he’s not pleased.”

The madness was only just starting. Net points tiebreakers still exist in the modern NFL but are so far down the line that it’s virtually impossible that we’ll ever get to them. The three net points tiebreakers rank only ahead of “coin toss” on the list. Knowing that, teams in these scenarios today would likely start to pull some of their starters as the games began to get lopsided. But in these games, pulling starters was the furthest thing from anyone’s mind. Running out the clock and even victory formation were likely going to be moot ideas. These teams were going to run the score up like an SEC team against a Division II school a week before their rivalry games.

We next saw a long run from Levens, which set up a short touchdown run from him later in the drive. That gave the Packers a 21-3 third-quarter lead over the Cardinals and — for the sake of this — a +12 lead on the Panthers. That would be short-lived. The next highlight we saw was a long touchdown pass from Beuerlein to Patrick Jeffers. That gave Carolina a 31-0 lead on New Orleans and narrowed Green Bay’s overall lead to +5.

Then, for the first time in the highlight, we saw a positive play from the other team. Arizona scored on a touchdown pass from Jake Plummer to Frank Sanders. That gave us another first — Carolina now had a +2 lead on Green Bay.

The Panthers did not hold that lead for long, though. The next highlight we saw was Arizona’s ensuing kickoff. As a general rule, highlight shows only focus on returns if something big happens — like a long return or a fumble. Here, we got the former, thanks to Packers return man Basil Mitchell. And if you’re at all familiar with Berman, you know he had some fun with that highlight.

“Basil Mitchell, puts a little oregano, puts a little tarragon and puts a lot of spice into an 88. YARD. KICKOFF RETURN. Touchdown, Pack,” Berman said.

With that, the Packers went up 28-10 on the Cardinals and +5 on the Panthers.

Things got better for Green Bay on the next highlight.

Jake Delhomme, who would later start at quarterback for the Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII, threw a big touchdown pass against them, trimming Carolina’s lead to 31-7 and putting Green Bay ahead +12.

But like the Packers did against the Cardinals, the Panthers had a quick answer. Michael Bates showed off the speed that made him an Olympic bronze medalist (not to mention one of the best return men of the decade) with a kickoff return of his own. The Packers still had the better position but it was now a more tenuous +5.

Frenetic finish

Levens scored his third touchdown of the day, giving the Packers a +12 lead over the Panthers. Arizona quickly responded, though. Plummer found Rob Moore on a long completion, setting the Cardinals up deep in Packers territory.

“Ray Rhodes,” Berman said as the camera focused on Green Bay’s coach. “You can’t allow points. But they do.”

Arizona’s Mario Bates was then shown scoring on a short touchdown run. With 9:30 left in the fourth quarter, the Packers led the Cardinals 35-17 and the Panthers +5.

Another touchdown from Beuerlein to Jeffers put the Panthers up 45-7 on the Saints and +2 on the Packers.

Things looked even better for Carolina with Arizona driving. But a Mike McKenzie interception — which Berman called “maybe the Play of the Year in retrospect,” — kept the Cardinals off the board.

With 3:50 left, the Packers started a drive on their own one-yard line leading the Cardinals 35-17. A completion from Brett Favre to Corey Bradford gave Green Bay some room. After showing that, Berman kicked it into overdrive.

“Now, hurry-up offense — even though they’re up 35-17 — because of the differential,” Berman said. “What an odd batch of circumstances, creating some unbelievable football.”

Favre and Bradford then connected again, this time for 31 yards. He continued.

“Hurry up offense,” Berman said. “Favre – Bill Schroeder – 15 yards. Four o’clock Eastern Time. Favre. Pumps. Schroeder. Touchdown. 99-yard drive. 42-17 Pack and, the big number on the Lambeau Leap, +5 over Carolina.”

Things then got even better for Green Bay when Delhomme scrambled for a touchdown with 18 seconds to go. And while normally this would be the definition of a garbage time touchdown, this one had meaning.

“And I know Mike Ditka says, (Carolina coach) ‘George Siefert, I know you have to do this but — let’s go for two. I don’t care. I’m caught up in this, too. Let’s go for two.’”

Delhomme’s touchdown would be reviewed and while it was close, the score was upheld. New Orleans’ subsequent two-point try was unsuccessful. With that, Carolina’s lead over New Orleans stayed at 45-13 and Green Bay’s overall lead sat at a seemingly safe +11.

That lead was soon trimmed, though, as the Cardinals scored again, cutting Green Bay’s lead to 42-24 in the game and +4 in the overall race.

But the Panthers had only 18 seconds left, so scoring would be tough. But Ditka, coaching what would be his final game, threw a wrench into the mix.

“Ditka goes for an onside kick,” Berman exclaimed. “He’s caught up in it. ‘I want points,’ but it’s recovered by Anthony Johnson.”

With the recovery of New Orleans’ onside kick attempt, Carolina now had great field position. Beuerlein threw a pass to Muhsin Muhammad in the end zone — but Muhammad couldn’t quite come down with the ball.

The next highlight was Favre handing the ball off to Levens, indicating that the Packers thought things were safe. But as Berman narrated, that changed.

“Green Bay, they figure, they’re safe. There’s a minute left in Carolina and there’s no way Carolina would have the ball in scoring position,” Berman said.

“But then word comes into Ray Rhodes on the sideline — ‘We need more points. Carolina has the ball at the 30,’” Berman added. “So Favre, instead of running out the clock, throws a bomb. Charles Jordan. Down to the one. Moments later. Favre. Hurry up. Hurry up. Tick, tick, tick. To Levens. Fourth touchdown. 49-24, +11 the differential.”

That was it. The Packers and Panthers both won their games decisively. But Green Bay’s 49-24 win over Arizona was enough to hold its point differential lead on Carolina, despite the Panthers winning 45-13.

“One of the wackiest scenarios we’ve seen from one of the wildest hours of football,” Berman said.

He was right.

And unfortunately for Green Bay, it would all be for naught.

The aftermath

As we previously noted, the team that came out of the early games ahead would still need some help from the Giants against the Cowboys later in the day. New York, which entered the day with a point-differential of -56 against Green Bay, now sat at -81. Needing to beat the Cowboys by 81 points, the Giants knew they were toast.

Dallas opened up a 16-0 lead at halftime and led 23-3 going into the final quarter. While New York made things slightly more interesting in the final minutes, it was not enough. The Cowboys punched their postseason ticket with a 26-18 win.

While they were the last NFC team to earn a playoff spot, the Cowboys actually claimed the fifth of six spots. While the Detroit Lions went into Week 17 on a three-game losing streak, they were 8-7 and had already secured their playoff spot. Detroit would lose 24-17, falling to 8-8. After losing a tiebreaker with the Cowboys, the Lions slotted into the No. 6 spot.

Ditka was not the only coach in Week 17’s madness to be coaching his last game. Dallas’ win meant that the Packers would miss the playoffs for the first time since 1992, the first year in the tenure of Mike Holmgren, the man Rhodes replaced after the 1998 season. Failing to reach the playoffs made Rhodes a one-and-done coach in Green Bay. He held different assistant roles from 2000-2012 but never served as a head coach again.

The Cowboys didn’t do much in the postseason, as they fell 27-10 to the Minnesota Vikings in Wild Card weekend. That was the final game for head coach Chan Gailey, who was fired after just two seasons, despite leading the Cowboys to the playoffs both years.

For a variety of reasons, we’re unlikely to ever see anything like this again.

First, as we already covered, point differential tiebreakers are much further down the line now. Second, the NFL tries to schedule Week 18 games that are relevant to each other at the same time. If these three games were played at the same time, the Packers and Panthers might have been more likely to take their feet off of the gas once the Cowboys opened up a substantial lead. Of course, the NFL regular season now has an extra game, giving things an extra week to be sorted out. And finally, each conference has an extra postseason spot, though in this case, that would have made the battle between Green Bay and Carolina more significant.

While a pair of YouTube pages show Berman’s narration of the call and have the name “We need more points,” he only said the phrase once. He did, however, have some other close variations. His narration of this was nearly flawless. As the games wound down, the highlights began to be shown in chronological order, showing the true tension that both teams were experiencing.